Process for preparation of aggregated food products and composition therefor

ABSTRACT

PREPARATION OF VARIOUS AGGREGATED FOODS BY APPLYING TO SURFACES OF FOOD PIECES TO BE BONDED A MIXTURE COMPRISING A PROTEIN, A POLYSACCHARIDE AND AN INORGANIC COMPOUND OF AN ALKALINE EARTH METAL.

United States Patent Office 3,686,002 PROCESS FOR PREPARATION OF AGGRE-GATED FOOD PRODUCTS AND COMPOSI- TION THEREFOR Sohta Nakano, 798Komaba-cho, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan; Kazumitsu Fujimoto, 118-3Chibadera-cho, Chiba-shi, Chiba-ken, Japan; Kazuhiro Otomo, 1590-1Hanazono-clio, Chiba-shi, Chiba-ken Chibaseihun Hanazonoryo), Japan;Toshiyuki Yokota, 18-14 2- chome, Kichijoji Kita-machi, Musashino-shi,Tokyo, Japan; and Hiroshi Shindo, 1672 Seya-machi, Totsukaku,Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken, Japan No Drawing. Filed Dec. 10, 1969, Ser.No. 884,036 Claims priority, application Japan, Dec. 24, 1968,43/94,834; Nov. 18, 1969, 44/92,275 Int. Cl. A22c 18/00, 25/00 US. Cl.99-107 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Preparation of variousaggregated foods by applying to surfaces of food pieces to be bonded amixture comprising a protein, a polysaccharide and an inorganic compoundof an alkaline earth metal.

The present invention relates to novel aggregated foods and the processfor the preparation of various aggregated foods.

The primary object of this invention is to provide, at a low cost and ona large scale, a new type of handy compound foods which are balanced innutrition as well as in taste, by freely employing various materials ofraw and processed foods and by combining and integrating these materialsinto shapes.

As processed foods, sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, salads and othershave been familiar so far as to meet those mentioned requirements. Theimplied idea, however, was promoted in this invention to make possiblethe process for preparing novel compound foods in which nutrition andtaste are balanced. Thus, various kinds of animal and vegetableproteins, carbohydrates, fats, etc., as raw materials of foods, areperfectly combined with each other, instead of being simply integrated,into entirely novel aggregated foods so that the aggregated state willbe maintained in any cooking or transportation processes.

The second object of this invention is to provide a very effectivemethod of adhesion for application where the tight combination ofprocessed materials of foods to each other is required, as is in thecase with barns and sausages.

At present, phosphates such as polyphosphate and metaphosphates are usedas combining agents in hams and sausages made of meats or fish. Thesephosphates are efficacious in maintaining quality of product, but affordonly an insufficient adhesive property of meat or fish materials to eachother. Attempts have been made, employing starch or gluten, to enhancethe adhesive property, without full success, and good combining agentshave long been sought.

Further, the third object of this invention is to provide a means toutilize small odd pieces of food or food materials, which are producedin the course of processing various foods, by integrating and combiningthese pieces into desired shapes.

In processing meats and fishes, for example, where eatable parts are cutout of animal bodies, many small pieces of eatable parts are produced.They are irregularly shaped and therefore the commercial value thereofis estimated lower due to their limited use. If these small pieces offoods of indefinite shapes could be combined with each other andintegrated into a certain shape, the commercial value would be raised.

3,686,002 Patented Aug. 22, 1972 But, as a matter of fact, difiicultiesare encountered in manufacturing aggregated foods by combining with eachother these pieces of raw or processed food materials. Namely, theconditions of surfaces of these pieces are not entirely suited toadhesion, because in many cases they are wet and show a wide variationin pH values, and in some cases their surfaces are covered with blood orother body fluid, fat, etc. In the case of raw foods, a generallyapplied conventional method of adhesion, in which the Water content inthe adhesive agent is removed by warming or heating to complete theadhesion, can never be adopted as such a method can not maintain thefreshness of foods. The adhered surfaces are required not to separate inall treatments in subsequent processes, such as boiling, roasting,smoking, seasoning, cutting and transportation. Further, of course, theadhesive agent applied and the condition under which the adhesion isconducted should be selected so as not to deteriorate the quality offoods and the adhesive agent itself must not be harmful to the humanbody.

Thus, adhesion of food pieces has many difliculties which are entirelydifferent from those encountered in the adhesionrof, for example, fibersand metals, and therefore the difficulties have not yet been overcome.

The present invention, which has been accomplished through extensiveresearches and experiments to manufacture novel aggregated foods thatare nutritive, tasteful and convenient and at the same time to highlyutilize the raw materials of various foods, has overcome theabove-mentioned difficulties satisfactorily and has succeeded incombining very firmly and easily pieces of raw and processed foodmaterials to prepare various kinds of aggregated foods.

More particularly, the present invention employs an adhesive mixturecomprising (1) an inorganic compound of alkaline earth metals(designated hereinafter as an alkaline agent) with at least one selectedfrom the group consisting of (2) protein substances and (3)polysaccharide substances, and the protein substances include proteins,their decomposition products and derivatives which contain at least 30mols of carboxyl groups per 10 g. and exhibit at room temperaturesolubility or dispersion in water having a pH range from 7 to 14 and inaddition the aqueous solution or dispersion containing less than 30% ofsolid ingredient is gelatinized, and the polysaccharide substancesinclude polysaccharides, their decomposition products and derivativeswhich contain at least 0.3 carboxyl group per polymer unit and exhibitat room temperature solubility or dispersion in water having a pH rangefrom 7 to 14 and in addition the aqueous solution or dispersioncontaining less than 30% of solid ingredient is gelatinized. Theadhesive mixture is spread over at least one of the two surfaces of foodpieces to be combined and then the pieces are attached at the surfacesto complete adhesion and obtain an aggregated food.

The raw materials and processed pieces of foods to which this inventioncan be applied include animal meat such as pork, beef, mutton andchicken, fishes such as tuna, salmon, trout and herring, meat of thecrustacea such as lobster, shrimp and crab, shellfishes, eggs of fishessuch as herring roe and salmon roe, sea weed such as tangle and Undariapinnatifida, meat products such as pressed ham, sirloin ham, bacon,corned beef, sausage and hamburgers cheeses of many kinds, animal fatsuch as of domestic animals and fish, artificial meat, fruits and asapple and banana, and vegetables such as potato, carrot, lettuce,cabbage and onion.

The process of this invention of combining raw materials or processedpieces of foods can be applied to an object either in a fresh state orprocessed such as, for example, boiled, broiled, smoked, salted, sugaredor otherwise seasoned. In addition, combination of the raw materials orprocessed pieces of foods may be changed in any way as desired.

In the case where dried pieces of foods or raw materials or processedpieces of foods of low water content are the starting materials ofaggregated foods, it is desirable that the surfaces of these pieceswhich are to be combined be moistened with water beforehand.

The protein substances and the polysaccharide substances employed asmaterial for the combining agent may include any protein andpolysaccharide, respectively, which has the carboxyl group content,solubility and the capability of gelatinization as specified above.

As for the carboxyl group content of the protein substances, a contentof at least 30 mols is desired per g. For less than 30 mols, thoughcapable of jelly formation, the substance can not afford an adhesionwhich is suflicient with respect to strength and water-resistance.

The desirable carboxyl group content of polysaccharide substances is atleast 0.3 per polymer unit. For less than 0.3, satisfactory adhesion cannot be expected as in the case of protein substances. The polymer unitof polysaccharide substances referred to above means a unit of anhydrousmonosaccharides which are combined with each other by ether bonding.

Jelly as used herein is a state of matter having stable elasticity inwhich molecules are arranged in a close packing in an aqueous medium asa result of gelatinization when protein or polysaccharide substanceshaving the above-mentioned carboxyl group contents and solubilities aredissolved or dispersed in neutral or alkaline water at room temperatureso as to be less than 30% with respect to the solid ingredientconcentration. Any protein or polysaccharide substances which can begelatinized at a concentration below 30% of solid ingredient can be usedfor the application of the present method of adhesion, so long as theircarboxyl group contents are in the range as specified above, but thosesubstances which can be gelatinized only over that concentration can notpractically afford sufiicient strength of adhesion.

In the conditions cited above, the jelly formation promotes the closepacking in the adhesive layer, and therefore the higher the capabilityfor jelly formation, the larger the adhesion strength and thewater-resistance.

Substances which meet these requirements include protein substances suchas egg-white, casein and deamided gluten, and polysaccharide substancessuch as sodium alginate, carboxymethylcellulose and carboxymethylstarch.

Further, by combination of these substances, their characteristics canbe utilized for adhesion.

As the alkaline agent, hydroxides of alkaline earth metals such ascalcium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide and barium hydroxide, and oxidesof alkaline earth metals such as calcium oxide, magnesium oxide andbarium oxide may be used.

The proportion in quantity of the alkaline agent to the protein or thepolysaccharide substances varies depending on the natures of thesesubstances, their carboxyl group contents, their solubilities and theircapabilities for jelly formation and also on the nature of the objec towhich to apply the adhesive agent and the desired strength of adhesion,but in general 2-50 parts of the alkaline agent is preferred for each100 parts of protein or polysaccharide substances, i.e., a ratio ofprotein or polysaccharide to alkaline agent in the range from 1:0.02 to1:05. In any case, less than 2 parts of the alkaline agent givesinsufiicient adhesive strength. On the other hand, however, over 50parts of the agent should be avoided because it results in deteriorationof foods pieces owing to the excessive alkali.

The amount of the adhesive agent to be applied on the surface of foodpieces also varies depending on the nature and the condition of thesurface of the food pieces, but

the minimum amount that uniformly covers the surface sufiices, and thatis 0.03-1.00 g. per 10 cm. of the surface. Use of less than 0.03 g. doesnot give sufiicient strength of adhesion in most cases and applicationof over 1.00 g. makes the adhesive layer thick which might give anunsatisfactory appearance.

The temperature at adhesion may be selected arbitrarily as long as thewater necessary for adhesion is neither frozen nor evaporated. However,heating or freezing after the adhesion has been completed scarcelyaffects the strength of adhesion.

Time required for the adhesion to be completed is from several minutesto not more than an hour.

The pH value does not particularly influence the strength of adhesion aslong as the pH lies in the ordinary range of food pieces of variouskinds.

The mechanism of adhesion in the process of this invention may beexplained as follows: first, the water contained in the food pieces (orthe water added in a small amount when the food pieces contain littlewater) penetrates into the adhesive agent of the above composition toactivate the alkaline agent, and the carboxyl groups, which are renderedin a dissociated state in the protein or polysaccharide substances arecombined to each other through the alkaline earth metals asintermediaries so that a firm and water-resistant layer of a networkstructure which supports adhesion seems to be formed. At the same time,the alkaline agent acts on the surface of the food pieces to promotepenetration of the adhesive agent into the tissues of the food where theagent is solidified and converted into a waterproof subtsance that formsa firm network structure, and thus the combined effects give firmadhesion between the food pieces.

The adhesion strength of aggregated foods of the present inventionvaries to some extent depending on the nature of the aggregated foodsand the adhesive agent and also on the composition of the latter, but atany rate the adhesion is strong enough so that the adhered layers arehardly detached in subsequent processing and transportation.

For illustration, 1.5 g. of a powdery mixture consisting of parts ofmilk casein and 20 parts of calcium hydroxide was applied to thesurfaces to be adhered of two pieces of pork. The pork pieces (10 x 5 x3 cm.) were lightly pressed to each other, allowed to stand for 1 hourand then cut into 10 test pieces of the dimension 5 x 6 x 1 cm. Intotal, 30 test pieces were prepared following the same procedure. Toexamine the strength of adhesion, each piece was vigorously shakenseveral times with one end held by fingers. As a result only one piecewas de tached, but the remainder were not detached. As for the remaining29 test pieces, one end of each piece was firmly held and a weight wasapplied to the other end to measure the weight required for separatingthe adhered surfaces. It was revealed that the adhered surfaces stand upto g., on the average, of stretching load per cm. of surface.Doubtlessly, the above strength of adhesion permits handling the productsafely without separating the adhered surfaces.

The aggregated foods of this invention exhibit enough strength ofadhesion so that the state of aggregation persists almost perfectlythroughout various subsequent treatments.

As materials of aggregated foods, a large variety of raw and processedfoods in pieces, each ditferent in taste, nutrition and mouth-feel, canbe freely chosen and mixed. The products may be consumed, for example,as an appetizing new food of novel appearance, childrens foods toprevent unbalanced nutrition, foods for patients to use for dietarytreatment and instant foods to be carried for picnics. Therefore, taste,nutrition, mouth-feel, shape, convenience and ease of cooking of thefoods can be emphasized depending on the object. The present inventionprovides an entirely novel type of aggregated foods which contribute toa great extent to the improvement of foods.

Moreover, in manufacturing the aggregated foods of this invention, thetemperature at which the pieces of foods are adhered may be varied in awide range so that the quality of foods is not deteriorated, and noparticular condition of manufacturing is required. Those materialsrequired to be adhered in a fresh condition such as, for example, meats,roes, vegetables and fruits can be made into aggregated foods with theleast deterioration in freshness. Once the adhesion has been completed,the aggregated foods can be cooked in any desired way without causingany change in the aggregation state, and, for that reason, anyprocessing can be employed which is adopted in ordinary foodprocessings.

The adhered products of this invention have many surfaces of adhesionbetween participating pieces of food. However, due to the strongadhesion they are never broken into detached pieces in any subsequenttreatment such as boiling, roasting, smoking, seasoning, cutting andtransportation and can accordingly be treated as an entirely novel wholepiece of foodor food material.

Therefore, indefinitely shaped small pieces of animal meats which happento be produced in the course of meat processing can be very easilyadhered to each other to be integrated into meat blocks of a definiteshape which results in enhanced commercial value of small meat pieces.

=For manufacturing ham, for example, 3 blocks on the average, each beingof a definite shape and of 1-1.2 kg. weight, are usually taken from apig thigh. The remainder of the pork in small pieces can be integratedby adhesion into blocks of l-1.2 kg. weight to raise the commercialvalue of the pork in small pieces. The same effect can be expected inmanufacturing boiled hams such as loin roll and boneless ham.

In addition, the process of this invention can also be applied to thefields where adhesion of food pieces has long been required, such asmanufacture of barns and sausages. The result is that aggregated foodsof excellent quality can be obtained and the conventional processes andconditions for manufacture need not be changed.

Examples of this invention will be illustrated in a tabular form thatfollows.

Food piece Adhesive agent T T em era- Area Alkaline Amount tu i-e oiapplie a Dimension adhered agent added adhesion to adhesion No. Name offood cm.) (emfi) Protein and polysacehartde substances (part) (part)(g.) 0. (min.

1 "$555 {33:3} 50 A a(0 )e (20). 2.5 10 10 2 23;; 4o A+B 75=2s.-M14011): (30).. 2. 0 a 10 a fig 3:23} 40 n+0 (50:50) CaO (25) 2.0 50

Beef (2 pieces) 5 x 5 x 0. 4 4-.--'.. g afgg gg ggg g: g; 00 A+D(60:40)";;....2;;:.;;;.;.;.; MgO (15)- 2. 8 15 60 Potato 5 x 5 x 0. 4 sjg;g g 33 f: 2a A+a (50:50) Ba(OH)2 (8)-- o. a 15 15 Onion..- 4 x 3 x0.2 6 Gheese 4x 32: 0.5 24 A+b (80:20) B80 0.5 21 30 Suet.... 4 x8x0.5 76 Egg: 2:36:}; 9 B(l00)...'.'..-'..'.'.'..'..:;;.';;;.:;'..;-;.;:;.;:;.;.. Ca(OH): (5)...0.02 23 30 8... .-.-{*,gg;;,; u 2 3 6; 4 o (100) CaO (a) 0.02 23 usApple (2 pieces) 5 x 3 x 1 9 Potato 5 x 3 X 0. 5 45 C-l-D (50:50).---'.CMOH): 1. 8 25 40 Tangle.. 5 x 3 x 0. 1

8 x 22;}, O+a (50:40)- CMOH): (2).- 0.9 10 a0 8 x 7 x 0. 1

7 5. 5 0+1) (40:60) ..-;.;.;.2::;;.":.;;;.:.;..;.:.".;;;;; 05(011):(8).. 1. 5 10 30 8x7x0.1 8 x 7 X 0. 1

l 11. 2 D (100). ....:.;;;:;'.;:;..;'::::;1;..;::;;:;;.:;:. 08(03): 1. 225 60 8x7x0.3 3 x 3 x 0. l 13.....{ 3 X 3 x 0. 6 18 D-i-a (80:20)Ca(OH)a (20).- 0. 5

Potato 7 3 x 3 x O. 5 Lobster (2 pieces) 10 x 3 x 1 14- Tangle 10 X 3 I0- 1 90 D+e (50:50)-. ..;'...333;:;.;;;.;.;.;-;;;;.- CMOH): (50).. 3. 518 20 Pork 10 X 3 X 1 Lobster (2 pieces)- 5 x 5 x 1 15.. Cheese 5 x 5 x0. 3 75 a(100) m A Ca(OH)a (15).. 3. 2 18 20 1a..-- e-l-b (7o:3o-....;;.:;.....t;....t;t; anon 20 a a 10 60 17--... g 53 i :3 200 b(100) CMOH): 20 12 30 8 x 7 x 0.1 18 8 I b+ t: (50:50) CMOH): (35)... 1.5 25 60 g s x 7 x 6.1 19 Under-la plnna- 56 e (100)....4. 08(0H): 3. 825 tifid x 7 x 0.05

l 20 l 10 l 10 20". l 20 A+ C+ a (60:20: 20)....';'; Ca(OH)a (8).... 8.0 5-8 23:27.3

21...-. ggg omen e 6.0

nion mot" Cheese.

lavorings See footnotes at end of table.

TABLE-Continued Food piece Adhesive agent Tempera- Time Area AlaklineAmount ture of applied Dimension adhered agent added adhesion toadhesion No. Name of food (cm.) (cm?) Protein and polysaccharidesubstances (part) (part) (g.) 0.) (min.)

22.--.-{f i if: s00 A+B+a+b 4o=1o=ao=2o Ca(0H)z 18.0 a 10 23.--..{' {2iggg 1a A-i-C-i-b-i-c (70:i0:10:10).--- (Mon), (18).. s 3 gg xii} canon);(30).. 1 25 4o 25..- Herring roe 1 4O 2. 4 10 1 Grams.

Nora.-A=Milk casein; B=Soybean casein; C=Egg-white; D= 1d d glutendeamided by the usual process); sodium 812mm; b=Carboxmethylcellulose;c=Carboxymethylstarch. I

No. Pretreatment and mode of aggregation 1 Treatment after adhesionObservations 1 The adhesive agent was applied uniformly onto the Keptfrozen for a month at 20 C., The adhered surface was not separated whenthe surface to be shared of the piece of pork to which then the halfthawed matter was slice was pulled at both ends. the piece of chickenwas put. Procedures similar sliced into 5 x 7 x 1 cm. to this one applyto the following examples unless otherwise described. 2 Kept frozen for3 months at 30 0., Do.

then the half thawed matter was sliced into 5 x 4 x 1 cm.

a Sliced into 5 x 3 x 1 cm., coated with The ahered surface was notseparat d at d crumbs and fried. after cooking.

4 Between 2 pieces of beef, 2 kinds of cheese and a Fried immediatelyDo.

potato piece were placed in sandwich. 5 do Same as above. The adheredsurface was not separated at and after cooking. r e The surface ofcheese to be adhered was moistened Fried immediately The adhered surfacewas not separated at and after beforehand with 0.5 cc. of water and thenthe cooking. Same as above. adhesive agent was applied.

7 do Eaten without further treatment. Not peculiar tasting, smelling ordiscolored. The adhered sulfgce was not separated.

9 Tangle was a dried one which was restored with Boiled in bol.ing waterThe adhered surface was not separated at nd after water before use.Tangle and boiled potato were a cooking. Racy. Not peculiar tasting.smelling or sandwiched between 2 pieces of apple. or discolored. 10Tangle was a dried one which was restored with Salted in kitchen saltand allowed to After storing in salt, taken out from salt andwashedwater before use. 0.6 g. of adhesive agent was stand for aweek. withrunning water without separating at the applied. Commercial saltedherring roe was surface. No difference in appearance from natural brokenup into pieces to which 0.3 g. of adhesive one. No peculiar taste, smelland discoloring. ager i t was applied, and placed on the surface of 4 oe ang e.

11...- Tangle was treated as in No. 10, to which boiled Pickled invinegar for a day..'....-.'::.- No separating at the adhered surface.Crispy when lettuce was adhered. 0.6 g. of adhesive agent was chewed. i

applied to the surface of lettuce to which was adhered herring roe as inN0. 10. 12.. Ham was adhered on tangle in the same manner as Kept soakedfor 3 months in concen- Unique appearance, tasty. No separating.-

in No. 11, 0.7 g. of adhesive agent was applied to trated salt water.the surface of ham. To it, commercial salted salmon roe to which 0.3 g.of adhesive agent was uniformly applied was adhered. a

13.. Boiled in boiling water....:.:.z:::-. No segarating at the adheredsurface, at and after coo ng.

l4. Tangle was a dried one which was restored with Coated with crumbsand fried... Tasty. No separating.

water before use. Tangle and pork were sand- 7 wiched in between 2pieces of lobster.

15..." Cheese andboiled piece ofpotatowere sandwiched Served withoutfurther treatment. Tasty. No in between 2 pieces of boiled lobster.peculiar taste or smell. No separating.

16 Commercial salted roes of herring and salmon The aggregated food ofherring and salmon roea,

broken up into pieces were thoroughly mixe pressed out of the tubeexhibited unique apand adhesive agent was uniformly admixed. pearanceand taste. S cient strength of ad- The whole mixture was pressed into acellulose hesion. No separating. tube to complete adhesion.

17 Sliced in pieces of 10 x 7 x 1 cm. Roast- The adhered product was notseparated when ed on direct fire. pulled strongly at both ends. Retainedsuflicient strength of adhesion after roasting. More tasty than muttonalone.

i8.-. Tangle was treated as in No. 10 to which was ad-.-'...;:.;1:;:::::::.:.-.;;.::..:;. Suiiicient strength of adhesion.Unique appearance hered cheese and then herring roe as in No. 10. notobserved before. No separating.

Adhered under slight application of pressure Stored for a month inconcentrated Suincient strength of adhesion. No separating.

salt water:

.. According to the ordinary process for preparing According to theordinary process for The ordinary process for preparing pressed hampressed ham, the cured meats, adhesive agent preparing pressed ham,processes of could be applied. A minute of mix time sufand othermaterials were mixed for 1 minute smoking, cooling and packing wereficed,being J's-Moot ordinarily re uire time. The

with amixer at r.p.m. and then immediately followed to obtain finalproduct. product was tightly combine No peculiar submitted to stufling.taste, smell or discoloringa 2l. Dried artificial meat, made of soybeanprotein, .....d0 Do.

was restored with water before use. Flank of pork was cured in theordinary way. These meats, together with the adhesive agent and othermaterials, were mixed for 1 minute with a mixer at 150 rpm. and wereimmediately submitted to stufling. 22 Sliced in pieces of 15 x 4 x 1 cm.No separating observed at the adhered surface at Roasted on direct fire.and after cooking. No particular difference in taste and appearance fromordinary beef. 23.... -..L...'-;;.;;2I;.;.:.2'.';2222;.'.2.:2222;2I-'I.;'4. N0 difierence in appearance from ordinary tuna:

N o separating at the surface of adhesion when vigorously shaken with anand held by hand. Sufiicient strength of adhesion was retained aftercooking.

'.'.'.. Boiled in boiling water. No difference in appearance fromordinary otato: Sufficient strength of adhesion, whic was retained aftercooking.

25... Herring roe employed in this example had been Soaked overnight ina saturated solu- The aggregation of herring roe, pressed out of thebroken up into pieces before it appeared commertion of kitchen saltafter it is stufied tube, satisfactorily maintained its shape, thoughcially. These pieces, uniformly mixed with inacellulosc tube. notcovered by a protective film as natural ad hesive agent, were pressedinto a cellulose he r rir roe is, during packaging and transu e. p0 aon.

1 The food pieces prior to adhesion consisted of ordinary fresh orprocessed foods as available commercially, unless otherwise stated.

What is claimed is:

1. A process for adhering pieces of food into an aggregated food byapplying to the surfaces of the pieces of food to be aggregated anadhesive mixture comprising an inorganic compound of an alkaline earthmetal and at least one of a protein substance and a polysaccharidesubstance and combining the pieces of food into an aggregated food, saidinorganic compound of an alkaline earth metal beingselected from thegroup consisting of calcium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, bariumhydroxide, calcium oxide, magnesium oxide and barium oxide; said proteinsubstance containing at least 30 mols of carboxyl groups per 10 g. andbeing gelatinizable at a concentration of solid ingredients of less than30% in an aqueous solution or dispersion of pH 7 to 14; and saidpolysaccharide substance containing at least 0.3 carboxyl group perpolymer unit and being gelatinizable at a concentration of solidingredients of less than 30% in an aqueous solution of pH 7 to 14, theratio of the protein substance and/ or the polysaccharide substance tothe inorganic compound of the alkaline earth metal being from 1:0.02 to1:05 and the adhesive mixture being applied in the amount of 0.031.00 g.per cm. of the surface to be adhered of said food pieces.

2. The process according to claim 1 in which the mixture is a powder.

3. 'Ihe process according to claim 1 in which the protein substance oneor more members selected from the group consisting of egg white, caseinand deamided gluten 4. The process according to claim 1 in which thepolysaocharide substance is one or more members selected from the groupconsisting of sodium alginate, carboxymethylcellulose andcarboxymethylstarch.

5. The process according to claim 1 in which the surfaces to be adheredof dried food pieces or of food pieces of a very small water content aremoistened beforehand with water.

6. Process for preparing aggregated fresh meats by ap plying the mixtureas defined in claim 1 onto the surfaces to be adhered of fresh meats inpieces and combining these pieces with other pieces of the same meatwith the mixture inbetween.

7. An adhesive mixture for adhering pieces of food into an aggregatedfood product comprising an inorganic compound of an alkaline earth metaland at least one of a protein substance and a polysaccharide substance,said inorganic compound of an alkaline earth metal being selected fromthe group consisting of calcium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, bariumhydroxide, calcium oxide, magnesium oxide, and barium oxide; saidprotein substance containing at least 30 mols of carboxyl groups per 10g. and being gelatinizable at a concentration of solid ingredients ofless than 30% in an aqueous solution or dispersion of pH 7 to 14; andsaid polysaccharide substance containing at least 0.3 carboxyl group perpolymer unit and being gelatinizable at a concentration of solidingredients of less than 30% in an aqueous solution of pH 7 to 14, theratio of the protein substance and/or the polysaccharide substance tothe inorganic compound of the alkaline earth metal being from 1:0.02 to1:05.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,434,843 3/ 1969 Durst 99-1HYMAN LORD, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

